In Bodies That Matter, Judith Butler further develops her distinctive theory of gender by examining
the workings of power at the most "material" dimensions of sex and sexuality. Deepening the inquiries
she began in Gender Trouble, Butler offers an original reformulation of the materiality of bodies, examining
how the power of heterosexual hegemony forms the "matter" of bodies, sex, and gender. Butler argues that
power operates to constrain "sex" from the start, delimiting what counts as a viable sex. She offers
a clarification of the notion of "performativity" introduced in Gender Trouble and explores the
meaning of a citational politics. The text includes readings of Plato, Irigaray, Lacan, and Freud on the formation
of materiality and bodily boundaries; "Paris is Burning," Nella Larsen's "Passing," and short
stories by Willa Cather; along with a reconsideration of "performativity" and politics in feminist, queer,
and radical democratic theory.